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918 BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY 

(Parti Ouvrier Beige) 



MEMORANDUM 

ON 

PEACE TERMS 



NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 

MCMXVIII 

Price ten cents 



By Transfer 

WIAY 6 [1918 



*\. 



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THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY 

(Parti Ouvrier Beige.) 

MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 

AS soon as the European War began, the Bel- 
gian Labour Party proclaimed: (1) that 
the Socialist Democracy was in no way responsible 
for that disaster; (2) that the Belgian proletariat 
would lend their aid to check the invasion of their 
territory "all the more zealously because they were 
confident that, in defending the neutrality and the 
very existence of their country, they were also serv- 
ing the cause of democracy and political freedom 
in Europe"; and (3) that the comrades who were 
called to the colours "ought to show themselves in 
all circumstances brotherly and loyal, and never to 
forget that they belong to the Labour Interna- 
tionale." 

After three years of sorrows innumerable and 
of grievous sufferings the Belgian working-class 
can proudly declare, before the proletariat of the 
world, that it has remained immovably faithful to 
the principles thus proclaimed at the decisive hour. 
Now, as on the 4th of August, 1914, the P.O.B. is 
convinced that Belgium has done nothing to justify 
the heinous aggression under which she ceaselessly 



% THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

bleeds. The Belgian Socialist workers will never 
regret having suffered and poured out their blood 
in the defence of right; succeeding events have 
strengthened their opinion that, in defending the 
independence of their country, they are serving the 
cause of democracy and political liberty in Europe. 
They are not conscious of ever having forgotten 
for one single day that they belong to the Labour 
Internationale. 

They have unhappily had to bear the most cruel 
disillusionment in seeing the high ideal of liberty 
and justice which the Socialist Internationale sym- 
bolised for them sullied and debased. They are 
convinced that community of interests and aspira- 
tions among the world's workers will eventually re- 
new the broken ties; but they desire above all, — 
because it is the only means of reaching a fruitful 
issue, — to restore to the Internationale all its moral 
grandeur by re-establishing reciprocal sincerity 
and confidence. Never, however, will this end be 
attained without the recantation, censure, or dis- 
missal of those who, through pride, egotism, de- 
lusion, or lack of courage, have betrayed the cause 
of International Democracy and Solidarity. 

II 

It has been repeated in every country and in 
many forms that the basic causes of the war lie in 
the antagonisms of interest inherent in capitalist 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 3 

society; that these antagonisms have been embit- 
tered by the imperialistic tendencies of great States, 
favoured by dynastic ambitions, and brought to 
their extreme tension by the growing development 
of armaments, especially in Germany. The So- 
cial-Democracy of all countries has in the past de- 
nounced these antagonisms and their probable con- 
sequences with tireless energy. It has striven al- 
most single-handed against militarism and for in- 
ternational arbitration; it has denounced the blind- 
ness of the governing classes and the impotence of 
the bourgeois democracy. This will be remem- 
bered to its honour. 

But if it be true that the main responsibility for 
the conflict rests upon imperialism, none the less 
there must be no question of giving way to the kind 
of despairing fatalism expressed in naive formulas 
such as that of the unfortunate Social-Democrat 
German soldiers who repeat like a lesson or a pass- 
word, "Capitalism has caused the war." Such 
folk might as well bend the knee with resignation 
before the detestable philosophic dictum which a 
Prince of the Church has pronounced regarding 
the war, possibly with the idea of excusing the 
Catholic and Apostolic monarchy of Austria-Hun- 
gary, "God smites, the better to heal." 

All the good sense and good feeling of the work- 
ing-class, all its years of struggle and champion- 
ship, protest against this tendency to hide under 
vague formulas real responsibilities and guilt, 



4 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

whether deliberate or unconscious. The workers 
know that capitalism tends to merciless exploita- 
tion of the undeveloped energies of women and 
children. This conviction has only been an addi- 
tional incentive to syndicalist and political action 
compelling the employers to show greater regard 
for the welfare of their workers' wives and off- 
spring. Moreover, in the international sphere the 
proletariat refuses to be merely the passive victim 
of hidden powers, self-styled sovereign and pre- 
ordained. 

Unhappily, the strength of proletarian agitation 
against war was not always equally great or 
equally successful in the different countries; and 
when the catastrophe actually occurred, we saw 
with inexpressible grief the immense majority of 
the organised masses of the Central Powers help, 
approve, and even applaud the imperialist enter- 
prises of their Governments. English workmen 
once protested against the South African War; 
Italian women prevented military trains from 
starting for the Abyssinian expedition; the work- 
ers of Catalonia declared a general strike against 
the campaign in Morocco; the Belgian working- 
class eagerly aided the demolition of the hateful 
exploitation system established on the Congo un- 
der Leopold the Second's rule; the Russian peo- 
ple profited by the Russo-Japanese War to organ- 
ise their first revolution in 1905. 

Never has the German proletariat afforded us 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 5 

the spectacle of one of these great movements of 
revolt. On the contrary, during the long Franco- 
German dispute about Morocco, while the French 
democracy forced its administration, despite the in- 
citements of the chauvinists and greedy capitalists, 
to a policy of conciliation and concessions, voices 
were raised even in the very heart of the German 
Socialist party to excuse the Kaiser's provocative 
acts and approve the colonial policy of the Empire. 
Need we recall the equivocal and hesitating atti- 
tude of the German section at the International 
Congresses each time that militarism came under 
review? Too easily did the proletariat every- 
where accept the explanation offered, — that the in- 
ternal political situation peculiar to Germany made 
it necessary. 

How discerning was Jaures when from the plat- 
form of the Amsterdam Congress he hurled his im- 
passioned invective at the German section: "You 
have no revolutionary tradition; you are politically 
powerless!" But there were even worse things 
than that: subterranean currents worked among 
the organised masses; chauvinism and imperialism 
had their defenders in the ranks of the party and 
completed the corruption of heart and spirit which 
the German schools and barracks had begun. At 
the first flicker of the formidable conflagration 
which enveloped Europe in August, 1914, the pu- 
pils of Hildebrand and Lentheur rushed to cele- 
brate their triumph in the Central Empires, to lead 



6 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

away the masses, under cover of excited passions 
and official falsehoods, to display a total contempt 
of right, and glorify the spirit of conquest and 
domination. 

in 

After the Balkan War, Austria-Hungary, the 
vanguard of German imperialism, fearing lest the 
road to the sea should be closed to her, sought to re- 
assert her influence over the young Slav states 
which had been called to life by the aid of Russia. 
But in Serbia particularly she met with a resistance 
fully justified by Hungarian hostility to Serbia's 
economic development, and stimulated by national 
aspirations. Austria- Hungary took advantage of 
the Serajevo outrage to crush them, and, with the 
approval of the German Crown Council, which met 
in Berlin on July 5, sent Serbia an astounding ul- 
timatum with the evident intention of driving that 
little country into war. Serbia, however, yielded 
almost every point, offering to refer the conditions 
under dispute to the Court of Arbitration at The 
Hague. Austria declared war, which she had al- 
ready tried to bring about in 1913, as Giolitti's 
revelations have since revealed. Russia frankly 
showed her intention of defending her proteges, 
and, with them, her own influence in the Balkans. 
She mobilised part of her forces. 

Italy and France intervened in favour of an 
amicable arrangement; England proposed a con- 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 7 

ference of the Great Powers, which Russia ac- 
cepted. Austria-Hungary, wishing at all costs 
first to punish Serbia, only consented to discuss 
subsidiary matters and refused a Conference of the 
Great Powers. Germany left her ally a free hand, 
and under pressure from the Pan-German party 
and the military and naval coteries, took the Rus- 
sian partial mobilisation — which she announced to 
her people to be a complete one — as a pretext for 
declaring war upon Russia, after the latter had at 
the last moment again proposed to refer the dis- 
pute to The Hague Tribunal. France proved her 
desire for peace by withdrawing her troops from 
the frontiers far enough to avoid any provocative 
incident — and we can ,still hear the resonant voice 
of Jaures filling the immense Circus Hall at Brus- 
sels as he bore witness to his Government's wish 
for peace. Germany declared war upon her. Bel- 
gium, the sincere friend of all her neighbours, who 
had strictly fulfilled the duties of her neutrality — 
a neutrality imposed by Europe and guaranteed 
by Prussia — was invaded. England came to a de- 
cision. 

Has there ever been a clearer case in history of 
the desire for aggression and dominion on the one 
side, and for conciliation and arbitration on the 
other? How did the Socialist party of the Central 
Powers act? The Austrian Reichsrath was not 
even consulted about the Votes of Credit, but the 
Arbeiter-Zeitung ', the official organ of the German 



8 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

Socialist party in Austria, hailed the opening of 
hostilities as a memorable date and gloried in "Ger- 
many's Day." In the German Reichstag, on Au- 
gust 4, the Socialist deputies unanimously passed 
the Votes of Credit ; and when the Chancellor cyn- 
ically acknowledged the violation of international 
law which he had committed by invading Luxem- 
burg and Belgium, these men, the trustees of the 
honour of the Internationale, did not utter a word 
of protest or even of regret. Since then we have 
learned that fourteen of the party, in private ses- 
sion, contended that the group should either op- 
pose the Vote of Credit or at least abstain from 
voting; but they were disciplined into consent, and 
through faint-heartedness became accessory to the 
crime. They missed their hour on the dial of his- 
tory. 

Meanwhile, the Belgian Socialists, bearing in 
mind the pronouncements of the German Deputy 
Muller at Paris, on July 31: "In Germany an 
affirmative vote is absolutely excluded," and in 
spite of the shocking violation of their country, be- 
lieved that the German proletariat had been drawn 
into the war against its will; and some militants, 
with Vandervelde at their head, visited the German 
prisoners to make sure that they were properly 
treated. They soon found themselves cruelly de- 
ceived and strangely rewarded. 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 9 
IV 

The Prussian hordes swept over the innocent and 
too-confident little country, herding men and 
women before them, and behaving themselves ac- 
cording to their supreme chief's mandate to his 
troops sent against the Chinese Boxers — namely, 
like the Huns. They respected no law, human or 
divine; they pillaged, burned, murdered. The 
ruins of Vise, Herve, Andenne, Auvelais, Mon- 
ceaux, Dinant, Tamines, Louvain, Aerschot, Ter- 
monde, and innumerable villages bear eloquent wit- 
ness to the devastation committed without the least 
excuse of military necessity. In a few days the 
soldiery made more orphans among the civil popu- 
lation than the war itself has made in three years 
among our soldiers' families. The German Social 
Democrats remained silent before all these name- 
less horrors ; while the German Press heaped insult 
and calumny upon the crushed populace, and the 
German Government published its lying story of 
francs-tireurs. 

Authorised representatives of the German So- 
cialist party came to look at the work of their na- 
tion and to visit their unhappy brethren. Her-. 
mann Wendel, who once cried, "Vive la France!" 
in face of the Reichstag, came to assert that Ger- 
many had been attacked, and that French soldiers 
were in Belgium before the German army arrived. 
Perhaps this man also believed the tale of bombs 



10 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

dropped upon Nuremberg. Liebknecht told us 
how his heart was rent by what he learned, and 
how remorse filled him as he gazed upon our smok- 
ing ruins. Then came Noske, and his acolyte 
Koster, to disclose with disconcerting cynicism the 
real opinion of the German Socialist majority: 
"You should have let them through!" Respect for 
treaties, national honour, — "a mere bourgeois con- 
ception!" He brought us good social laws and the 
S.U.* — this man from Prussia. In Germany one 
could not refuse to vote funds without causing the 
ruin of the Socialist organisations ; as for ourselves, 
we had no organisation. For the rest, he offered 
to speak to the superior authorities on our behalf. 
Never has the senseless pride and the domineering 
spirit of this people, Socialists included, been so 
plainly revealed. This was the same Noske who 
later on wrote a book in defence of the incendiar- 
ism and massacres at Louvain. Did he not pre- 
tend to have noticed marks of the francs-tireurs' 
bullets upon the ruined walls? 

While the whole world rang with the groans of 
our tortured population, and protests arose on 
every side; while the Emperor had our walls plac- 
arded with the assurance that "his heart bled" at 
the thought of the sufferings which he had to im- 
pose on us, the imperialistic movement in the heart 
of German Social-Democracy was brought to light. 
One saw "Haenisch" and Lensch, David and Ques- 

* S.U. — Suffrage Universel. 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 11 

nel, Gohre and Sudekum undertake a crusade by- 
word and pen on behalf of the "civilising" mission 
of Germany,— ^chiefly by shamelessly falsifying the 
immortal doctrines which Marx bequeathed to the 
masses. Most of the Syndicalist chiefs and the 
elected members permitted — ay, often approved, 
these corrupters of the Socialist and revolutionary 
spirit, who at this very hour still flaunt themselves 
at the head of the party. 

In neutral countries Socialist opinion, like pub- 
lic opinion, everywhere espoused Belgium's cause. 
Even though one sees that the rulers' first business 
was to save their own countries from the storm, it 
is still difficult to understand why the International 
groups — who also sheltered themselves behind gen- 
eral formulas — did not take up a firm position and 
denounce the politics and the actions of the Central 
Powers and their Socialist parties. It was par- 
ticularly painful to us, in these circumstances, to 
witness the absurd attitude of certain English So- 
cialists who, through hatred of imperialism, blamed 
their Government for having taken part in the war. 
They could not see that England's abstention 
would have sealed the triumph of the worst of im- 
perialisms and militarisms. The Belgian work- 
ing-class, whose heart beats with a boundless love 
and admiration for heroic France, will be eternally 
grateful to England for having respected treaties 
and saved her independence, instead of imitating 
certain backboneless neutrals and playing the role 



12 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

of Pontius Pilate, as she was urged by these So- 
cialists to do. 



After the first weeks of patriotic exaltation; 
after the whole world had vibrated with indigna- 
tion at the recital of the infamies perpetrated in 
Belgium; when the truth had, in spite of every- 
thing, filtered through the published diplomatic 
documents; above all, after the decisive check 
which the imperial armies sustained upon the 
Marne and the Yser — one would have imagined 
that the German Social-Democrats would have re- 
covered themselves. Nothing happened. Scheide- 
mann refused our Dutch friends' suggestion to 
make an enquiry into the methods of conducting 
war in Belgium. Haase relates that for the ses- 
sion of the Reichstag on December 2, 1914, long 
private discussions of the Socialist party were nec- 
essary before it was agreed to insert at the head of 
the group's official declaration a short passage re- 
calling the Chancellor's words of August 4 about 
Belgium. 

Having from the first days of the war forgotten 
the high ideal of right which the Internationale em- 
bodies, the majority of the German Social-Demo- 
crats remained bound to the militarism and the im- 
perialism whose instrument it had become, and it 
has continued its complicity in numberless outrages 
on International Law. Thus, it has dumbly 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 13 

looked on at the systematic destruction of every 
industry in Belgium by the removal of all ma- 
chines and raw materials. It has allowed our rail- 
waymen and our quarrymen who refused to work 
for the enemy to be condemned. It has been silent 
in the face of the countless sentences to deportation, 
prison, and death which have fallen broadcast 
among our inflexible population, often with no pre- 
tence of legal trial. 

Moreover, on every occasion in the Reichstag, 
the Socialist majority, instead of taking up an in- 
dependent position, has favoured Government de- 
signs by always giving support to equivocal mo- 
tions designed to further the imperialist policy. 
When the minority made an interpellation in No- 
vember, 1915, in regard to the desirability of peace 
negotiations, the majority rejected the preliminary 
form proposed by the minority suggesting negotia- 
tions on the basis now so much commended: — "No 
annexations; no indemnities." Was it not Heine 
who applauded the Government statements, saying 
that military events alone could decide the proper 
moment for discussing conditions of peace? Did 
not Siidekum openly demand the guaranteeing of 
the frontiers needed by his country, and economic 
links between the European States? After each 
debate in the Reichstag, did not the majority do- 
cilely vote in favour of the Government — after 
Spahn or Bauermann, in the name of the bourgeois 
party, had interpreted its conclusions as favourable 



14; THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

to these "necessary guarantees on the East and on 
the West"? 

We find the same ambiguous and tolerant atti- 
tude towards the Government when the question of 
the submarines came up. The Socialist majority 
followed the bourgeois majority in voting unani- 
mously for the resolution in favour of the unre- 
stricted use of this new weapon, with no regard for 
International Law — as the Socialist minority im- 
mediately proved, and as later events demonstrated. 
But it is in relation to the wholesale deportation of 
tens of thousands of Belgian workers, whether out 
of work or not, that contempt for the fundamental 
rights of every man, of every labourer, was dis- 
closed with the greatest cruelty and cynicism. 
What became of the protests of the Socialist ma- 
jority? Sullenly, and under conditions, they 
agreed to a few phrases supporting the efforts of 
the minority. Where were their protests against 
the abominable treatment to which these unhappy 
beings were subjected in the German camps, dur- 
ing a long, hard winter, without fire, without food, 
sometimes even without blankets? 

With a cynicism almost inconceivable, Bauer, one 
of their Syndicalist leaders, dared to inform the 
secretary of the Belgian Syndicalist Commission 
that the measures taken against the workers were 
suggested by the Hainault manufacturers ; that the 
Socialist majority dare not protest too loudly for 
fear of public opinion ; and that the Socialist depu- 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 15 

ties could not tell what took place in camps which 
they were unable to visit ! But he affirmed that his 
colleagues were working behind the scenes, and 
that our unfortunate comrades would obtain jus- 
tice! Yet even now, in July, 1917, thousands of 
Belgian labourers, forcibly carried off in Novem- 
ber and December, 1916, are still waiting for their 
repatriation, in spite of the Emperor's own prom- 
ise. Those who were full of life and energy when 
deported are sent back to us ghosts of their old 
selves, while others, many of them, have died in ex- 
ile or soon after their return home. 

But the workers' martyrdom is not yet ended, 
for as fast as the military zones are extended in our 
country the military chiefs swoop upon our com- 
patriots and send them to work — no longer in Ger- 
man factories, but actually in the trenches on the 
Western front, under the fire of the Allies. Dur- 
ing the Flanders battles poor wretches have been 
forced to carry munitions to the German artillery 
while in action. All-powerful militarism, unable 
to break the resistance of the Belgian labourers (in 
German camps), has taken a noble revenge! 
When did the German Social-Democrat raise his 
voice against these atrocities? And if possibly he 
did so "behind the scenes," where is his influence 
with his Government? And if the latter still per- 
sists in such conduct, why does he always vote the 
supplies needed to carry on its hateful work. 

Must one also recall all the meannesses, the vex- 



16 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

ations, the hourly wounds, the hateful or ridiculous 
measures to which the Belgian population has had 
to submit for three years past? The schools are 
closed for lack of coal in a country which produces 
a surplus of coal, because the invader, to improve 
his mercantile exchange, has requisitioned coal to 
sell to neutrals. The committees are debarred 
from organising technical instruction, the workers 
are turned out of factories, where only twelve men 
at a time may now be employed. The communes 
are forbidden to undertake useful public works, the 
people are left without potatoes during six months 
of the year in a country whence in normal times 
they are exported by the hundred thousand sacks ; 
the smuggling of food-stuffs into Germany is en- 
couraged in defiance of signed engagements. A 
remarkable breakdown of the greatly-vaunted 
German organisation has occurred in regard to all 
classes of food, so that for long months past the 
workers have not known the taste of either butter 
or meat, and find themselves reduced to living upon 
a little bread and soup ; while the invader, thwarting 
the initiative of the communes and committees in 
every possible way, deals in all kinds of native 
products without paying the slightest heed to the 
most elementary rules of common honesty. 

Next comes wholesale corruption, and division 
sown among the ranks of the populace by the ex- 
ploitation of Flemish demands. Because there 
had been no success with the organised working- 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 17 

class, which proudly refused the degrading gifts 
offered by Councillor Bidmann in the Emperor's 
name, certain fanatics were approached, amongst 
them persons of no standing and deeply in debt, 
from whom the "Council of Flanders" was formed, 
in flagrant disregard of international conventions 
and without the sanction or approval of any of 
those who have a public mandate in Flanders or 
who have played a central part in the Flemish 
movement. At the very moment when attempts 
were on foot to make the world believe that there 
had never been any intention of striking at Belgian 
independence, a plan for separating Walloons and 
Flemings was produced, which revolted the public 
conscience. Germany imprisoned and deported 
officials who were faithful to their oath, who re- 
fused to help the enemy in his work of division and 
destruction. Immediately the Vorw'drts, encour- 
aging the blacklegs, wrote that these measures 
would have a good effect upon "culture" in Flan- 
ders. "In whatever circumstances you find your- 
self, show yourself brotherly and loyal," the 
P.O.B. had cried on the 3rd August to comrades 
called to the colours. How far we are now, alas! 
from the last remnant of fraternity and kindness! 
Dispersing all previous illusions, German militar- 
ism has inflamed the heart of the proletariat with 
an indestructible fire of hatred. We sometimes 
contemplate with terror the days when the nation 
shall be liberated, and all the flood of injustice and 



18 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

suffering, misery and ruin, crime and disgrace in- 
flicted upon Belgium will come to light, — rousing 
such hatred as history has scarcely known before. 



VI 

We are told: "They are not all equally bad." 
We know it well enough. We have listened with 
anxious attention to the slightest rumours from 
Germany. We have seen those admirable women, 
Rosa Luxembourg and Klara Zetkin, imprisoned 
with prostitutes for bearing aloft the standard of 
the Internationale when war broke out. We have 
followed the efforts of Liebknecht, Mehring, and 
their comrades to open the eyes of the German 
workers. We know in what manner they paid for 
their boldness. We have seen the minority, headed 
by the beloved veterans of the Social-Democrats, 
— Bernstein, Kautski, Haase, Ledebourg — little 
by little shake off its inertia, recant the mistakes it 
made on the outbreak of the war, and free itself 
from the deadly grip of a humiliating discipline. 
We have seen it at last break with the majority; 
and, in spite of endless difficulties caused by the 
state of war, by the censorship and repression, we 
have seen a movement set in among the masses 
which is more and more favourable towards these 
men. We cannot, however, forget that they al- 
lowed themselves to be over-reached and deceived, 
that they lacked foresight or courage, that they did 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 19 

not give vent to their protests and their distress 
when Prussian militarism struck mercilessly at the 
poor Belgian proletariat, which now remains dis- 
trustful, passionately hoping for more decisive 
deeds. 

Moreover, what sort of a reception have the ef- 
forts of the minority met with among the party ma- 
jority? With the help of the military censorship, 
and in agreement with trade union officials, the 
heads of the party, tools of the Government, have 
captured the independent Socialist journals at 
Berlin, Stuttgart, Bremen, Duisborg, Konigsberg, 
etc. They have turned out of the party commit- 
tees the staunchest militants, because they were 
faithful to the principles of the Internationale, and 
have slavishly helped the military authorities, by 
means of the civil service vote, to repress the work- 
ing-classes. They have taken the management of 
the Gleichheit, the brave organ of the women So- 
cialists, out of the hands of Klara Zetkin ; they have 
permitted their official publications to slander the 
heroic Friedrich Adler, who, doubtless, was guilty 
of drawing Austria out of the atmosphere of ab- 
solutism and oppression in which she languished. 
But, on the other hand, they have tolerated the 
propaganda and actions of the imperialistic So- 
cialists, who openly preached Germany's "civilis- 
ing" mission, and last September went so far as to 
applaud the idea of a separate peace — not with 
revolutionary Russia but with Russia of the Tsar- 



20 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

dom. They loudly discountenanced the riots 
among the Berlin working-class folk, who clam- 
oured for a little more bread. 

When the German workers come back to their 
better selves, free themselves little by little from 
their bad shepherds, renounce their deputies — as 
happened to Scheidemann at Solingen — then neu- 
tral Socialists come exhorting Belgian Socialists 
thus: "Do not argue about the past; restore old 
relations; come and talk things over with them as 
with good, trustworthy Socialists." How do they 
expect us to believe in these men's Socialistic sin- 
cerity and sense of justice, when they do not know 
how to be just or tolerant towards their own peo- 
ple, not even to the best among them? The 
P.O.B. has a higher ideal of what an International 
Socialist reunion ought to be, and this explains why 
so far it has refused every invitation from a "neu- 
tral" section of the Internationale. 

But there are other reasons why it should refuse 
to lend itself to any attempt at a rapprochement 
fathered by one or other of the complaisant neu- 
trals. Certainly the Belgian workers do not for- 
get the warm and active sympathies which they 
have met with among most of the International 
sections ; but neither do they forget the attitude of 
certain so-called "neutrals." They cannot forget 
that the Swiss, Grenlich, backed up Nathan's offer 
to the Italian Socialists — an offer of 100,000 fcs., 
refused with disdain, however — to encourage them 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 21 

in anti-war propaganda. They do not forget the 
shameful journey through Belgium, under the con- 
duct of the invader, of certain Scandinavian stal- 
warts, who carefully avoided making any inquiries 
among their Belgian fellow-Socialists — obviously 
with the intention to deceive International public 
opinion. They have also clear in memory Grimm's 
lamentable use of the worst methods of bourgeois 
secret diplomacy to induce the Kussian revolution- 
aries to treat with Prussian autocracy and militar- 
ism. Finally, they have seen, almost with stupe- 
faction, Troelstra, president of the Dutch-Scandi- 
navian Committee, receive the self-styled repre- 
sentatives of the pretended Flemish activist Social- 
ists, men with no mandate or authority behind 
them, and enter into discussions with them with an 
air so serious as to border on buffoonery. Is this 
not enough to make us suspicious of these neutrals' 
advances? 

VII 

Does this then mean that the P.O.B. attaches no 
value to, and refuses to participate in, any effort 
made to throw more light upon the general situa- 
tion? Nothing is further from its thought and 
wishes. In September, 1914, it approved the tem- 
porary displacement of the B.S.I.,* so that the lat- 
ter might keep the International organisation 
alive. It recorded with satisfaction the resolutions 

* B.S.I. — Bureau Socialiste International. 



22 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

favourable to Belgium passed at the Conferences 
of Neutral Sections held at Copenhagen in 1915, 
and at The Hague in 1916. It was happy to take 
part in the London Conference, in February, 1915, 
where for the first time one of the groups of bel- 
ligerents formulated the principles of a durable 
and fruitful peace ; principles to which nothing has 
yet been added. It was the first to respond to the 
appeal of the B.S.I, at The Hague, in February, 
1915, requesting that each section should put for- 
ward its point of view. In December, 1916, it re- 
peated its opinion, and stated exactly how it re- 
garded peace and the struggle in favour of it. It 
followed with the most anxious attention the prog- 
ress of the sections of the Internationale before the 
mixed Committee at Stockholm, which continued 
the enquiry attempted at The Hague in 1915. 

What have these meetings and conferences 
taught it? They have confirmed it more and more 
in the opinion it expressed at the very beginning of 
the war, that, in this unprecedented conflict, the de- 
cisive struggle is one between two irreducible prin- 
ciples: Either the world will henceforth live under 
the same menace and anxiety as in the past of out- 
rage and fresh efforts at domination on the part of 
the Great Powers, able still to hold their people in 
leading-strings; or free sovereign peoples will be 
seen disposing of their own destiny in the commun- 
ity of nations, just as they arrange the details of 
their social life. 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 23 

The undying hope which the Belgian proletariat 
had in the triumph of democracy was transformed 
into absolute certainty when they saw with deep 
joy the Russian proletariat, the most persecuted in 
the world, break its chains and, at the first blow, 
win for its country a foremost-place among modern 
democracies. It is not difficult to understand the 
strong and legitimate desire of the Russian people 
to secure an early peace, which would leave them 
free to consolidate victories won at home. The 
German Government tried to profit thereby and 
conclude a separate peace, not hesitating, in order 
to secure this object, to countenance certain of 
those "dangerous" Russian revolutionaries whom 
they had formerly hunted down without scruple 
for the Tsar's pleasure. It even protested a kind 
of friendship for the Revolutionary Government. 
The Austro-Hungarian Government, hoping to 
cause trouble and hesitation in the minds of the 
Russian masses, went further still. Itself embar- 
rassed by grave internal difficulties, it declared that 
it was not looking for any annexation or indemnity 
from the Russian side; but it failed to add that it 
meant to recoup itself at the expense of the Ser- 
bians, Roumanians, and Montenegrins. Once 
more, in the course of these manoeuvres, one saw 
the majority of the German Social-Democrats us- 
ing every means to induce belief in the sincerity 
and loyalty of these ambiguous and reserved dec- 
larations. 



24 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

Instead of pointing out to the German prole- 
tariat the fine example of the Russian people in 
overthrowing their tyrants, instead of lining up all 
democratic and revolutionary forces against the 
last centre of autocracy and reaction in Europe, 
and using the Russian revolution to dictate to Eu- 
rope a peace based upon the principles of the So- 
cialist Internationale, the heads of the German 
Social-Democracy (Majority Party) endeavoured 
to use the revolution to secure a German peace 
which would leave intact both Prussian militarism 
and the autocracy of the right divine (!) of the 
Hohenzollerns and the Habsburgs. 

VIII 

When the delegates of the German Social-Demo- 
crats answered the interrogations of the Dutch- 
Scandinavian Committee at Stockholm, they once 
again showed that they placed the triumph of 
"Germanism" above the rights of nations to dispose 
freely of themselves, and that they had no inten- 
tion of restoring to any of the European nationali- 
ties those liberties of which Prussian militarism and 
autocracy had already deprived them. The for- 
mula of the Soldiers' and Workers' Committee in 
Russia, loyally interpreted, would serve as a basis 
for the establishment of a durable peace; but the 
German Socialist majority interprets it in a one- 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 25 

sided way, agreeing on this point with the majority 
of the German Social-Democrats in Austria. 

The P.O.B. does not consider that there will be 
the least use in discussing affairs with these sec- 
tions so long as they persist in this attitude, which 
is manifestly opposed to the basic principles of the 
Internationale. The P.O.B. fully realises that the 
German Socialist majority as a whole no longer 
wishes for territorial conquests at Belgium's ex- 
pense; but the revelations made at Stockholm con- 
tain hints about a possible position of vassalage for 
our country in regard to France and England, an 
allusion only slightly disguised under the pretext 
of necessary guarantees, not defined. Moreover, 
it must not be imagined that the Belgian prole- 
tariat, because it insists so strongly upon the jus- 
tice of its own cause and upon the miseries that it 
has suffered, thinks only of its national interests. 
On the contrary, because it eagerly hopes to see es- 
tablished in Europe political conditions which will 
allow the International proletariat to act with the 
maximum effect, it is heart and soul with all op- 
pressed nationalities and desires their complete de- 
liverance. 

The P.O.B. wishes the return of Alsace-Lor- 
raine to France, and considers this reparation a 
condition essential to a durable European peace. 
It also desires the reconstruction of a free and in- 
dependent State of Poland — not merely Russian 
Poland, but with Galicia and Prussian Poland in- 



26 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

eluded. It desires that peace shall bring with it 
the liberation of the Czechs and the Slovaks, the 
Ruthenes, the Italians, the Serbs, and the Rouma- 
nians at present subject to a German minority in 
Austria and to the Magyars in Hungary. It de- 
sires the escape of the Armenians from the Turk- 
ish yoke under which they have suffered so much, 
and their inclusion, say, in the great family of self- 
governing Russian nations. It desires, in a word, 
that the principles of the peoples' right to dispose 
of themselves shall be applied definitely, logically, 
and sincerely. 

The Belgian working classes have in the last 
three years learned to know what feelings must 
animate a people which has been unwillingly sub- 
jected to foreign rule. They often think of the 
sufferings of Alsace-Lorraine, of the tens of thou- 
sands of Poles who have been hanged in Galicia 
since the war began, of the numberless brutalities 
to which the Italians of the Trentino have been ex- 
posed, and of all the sorrows which Austrian domi- 
nation has inflicted on the Czechs, Serbs, Croats, 
and Slovaks. They consider that no sacrifice could 
be too heavy which would assure a free and inde- 
pendent life to these oppressed nations; and this is 
why they do not desire a premature peace which 
would re-establish the status quo ante helium. 

Now, it is this status quo that the German So- 
cialist majority wants, and the Austrian Socialist 
majority too. By what right and in virtue of what 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 27 

principles do these professed Socialists continue to 
sacrifice the liberty of so many peoples to the in- 
terests and ambitions of their autocrats ? They re- 
pudiate the eloquent protestations of Bebel, Lieb- 
knecht, and Schweitzer against the annexation of 
Alsace-Lorraine in 1870. Nor do they accept, 
even to end the war, what scarcely 25 years ago En- 
gels pointed out to them as an immediate duty: 
"The German Social-Democracy cannot exercise or 
retain power unless it repair the injustices which its 
predecessors have committed in regard to other na- 
tionalities. It must prepare for the re-establish- 
ment of Poland, which was betrayed by the French 
bourgeoisie; it should place Schleswig and Alsace- 
Lorraine in a position to express freely their views 
on their political future." Germans other than 
Lassalle have denounced Austria-Hungary as the 
European State most hostile to civilisation; have 
wished to "see the nigger who would not appear a 
white man beside the Austrian." This Austria, 
"the reactionary principle, the most formidable foe 
of all ideas of liberty," Friedrich Adler has re- 
vealed to us as unchanged during the course of this 
war. 

IX 

In regard to the proper indemnities due to dif- 
ferent countries, the German Socialist majority 
preserve the same hostile attitude. Belgium, Ser- 
bia, the wasted provinces of France, will have to 



28 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

heal their own wounds in the way laid down by the 
German interpretation of the formula: "No in- 
demnities." What? Take the case of Belgium. 
It would mean that Germany would with impunity 
have raised heavy war contributions of hundreds of 
millions of francs from the provinces and towns, 
imposed endless fines on trifling — sometimes the 
most ridiculous — pretexts on individual towns and 
villages; carried off our machinery and raw ma- 
terials; systematically destroyed our factories; 
seized all kinds of manufactured goods at ruinous 
prices ; torn up thousands of kilometres of our rail- 
way lines ; wound up, in order to make a shameful 
profit, the businesses of all those who refused to 
work for the enemy; destroyed and burned whole 
towns and villages without the slightest military 
reason; massacred in heaps thousands of defence- 
less inhabitants; deported workmen wholesale to 
die of hunger, of cold, and of ill-treatment; be- 
haved, in a word, so that there no longer exists a 
family which has not to weep its dead, its ruins, its 
physical and moral downfall. 

And the responsible authors of all these ills, ac- 
cording to the German Socialist majority, after 
having taken everything, stolen everything, de- 
stroyed everything in their work of domination, are 
now, after missing their stroke, to have the right to 
withdraw scot-free and disown the solemn promise 
made by the Chancellor on August 4, 1914, and en- 
dorsed unanimously on December 2, 1914, by the 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 29 

Socialist Party. And doubtless we shall be asked 
further to pledge ourselves to let them immediately 
resume the old business relations and flood the 
world freely with their own productions, while for 
long months, perhaps years, the Belgian working 
classes and those of Northern France must spend 
their strength in reconstructing their factories be- 
fore the country can sell a ton of merchandise. Ah 
well! if necessary, if it be impossible for us to re- 
cover under these conditions, they will give us char- 
ity, but . . . drawn for the most part from our 
Allies' pockets. 

The P.O.B. will not accept alms of this kind for 
its country; it will not become a race of beggars: 
it only wants its rights, and it will have them ! 

But what can we expect from these pretended 
Socialists — whose fundamental mission is to fight 
against all exploitation of man by man — who, in 
most tragic circumstances, through national ego- 
tism, actually admit and excuse the cynical and 
systematic exploitation of a small, valiant, and 
loyal nation by a more powerful one dragged by its 
rulers into an aggressive campaign? How dare 
they invite their victims to meet and deliberate in 
perfect confidence with the representatives of such 
conceptions of Social Brotherhood? 

The P.O.B. , then, refuses to participate now in 
any conference whereat the Majority Party of the 
German Social-Democrats will be represented. It 
can expect nothing from them so long as they main- 



30 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

tain their present attitude and continue to support 
Prussian autocracy and militarism. It will not, by 
now accepting the invitation to discuss a peace pro- 
gramme, help to deceive the working classes of the 
nations. Further, it will not rehabilitate the lead- 
ers of the German Socialist Majority Party in the 
eyes of the German workers who have begun to re- 
gain possession of themselves. It will never agree 
to any reunion unless the question of responsibility 
is to be threshed out fully; for upon that depends 
every possibility of future action. 



If the P.O.B. considers a conference with the 
delegates of the Majority to be morally impossible, 
it has no longer, however, the same reasons for re- 
fusing any meeting with the delegates of the Minor- 
ity Party. The courageous attitude of Liebknecht, 
the persevering struggle of the Minority against 
the Imperialist movement, the plain statement for- 
mulated at Stockholm, the explicit assertions of 
Haase in the Reichstag on July 20th, are sufficient 
indication that there are in Germany, in the heart 
of the proletariat, some Socialist forces which have 
remained sound, upon which the Internationale 
may lean again when full light has been cast on 
past events and mutual confidence has been com- 
pletely restored. 

The P.O.B., therefore, does not refuse to join in 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 31 

a conference with the delegates of the German So- 
cialist Minority, in order to exchange the neces- 
sary explanations for the re-establishment of that 
mutual confidence which is an indispensable pre- 
liminary to action. But from now onwards the 
P.O.B. abides by its decision that it cannot accept 
the tactics suggested by the Minority to realise its 
peace programme. 

The German Socialist Minority demands, where 
nationalities are concerned, the reconstitution of an 
entirely independent Belgium; of Serbia, linked up 
with the Austrian Serbs; and of Poland, its three 
parts reunited, — that is, the part now subject to 
Prussia included. It demands a definite solution 
of the Alsace-Lorraine question by permitting the 
population, after straightforward discussion, to ex- 
press its own wishes. In short, the Minority 
claims for all oppressed nationalities the right to 
decide their own fate and enjoy self-government. 

The German Socialist Minority also requires 
that, in conformity with the Chancellor's pledge 
given on August 4th, Belgium shall be indemni- 
fied. It approves of compulsory arbitration; of a 
general disarmament; of free commercial inter- 
course between nations ; international protection of 
workers; respect for the rights of natives in the 
colonies ; and universal free trade. 

The P.O.B. recollects that it put forward the 
same demands in its Note of December, 1916, when 
the German Socialist Minority replied that the con- 



32 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

tinuation of the war prevented their realisation, 
and insisted upon immediate peace negotiations. 
The P.O.B. categorically refuses to enter at pres- 
ent upon so illusory and dangerous a course. 

Illusory, indeed, as the latest events in German 
internal politics have emphasised! Certainly, the 
long duration of the war, its sufferings and miser- 
ies, and, above all, the manifest impossibility of se- 
curing a definite victory, have made the German 
masses reflect, and a vast peace movement has be- 
gun. The wish for peace is such that one sees the 
Catholic Centre, — through fear for its popularity, 
not through a sense of justice, — change its attitude 
and try to make people believe that it only desires 
a peace of reconciliation. But the formula voted 
in the Reichstag, once more with the connivance of 
the Socialist Majority, lacked clearness and hon- 
esty; the Socialists, the Centre, the Chancellor, and 
the Pan-Germans themselves interpreted it each in 
their own way, to suit their very diverse wishes. 

Though the formula were clearly opposed to all 
annexations, open or disguised, all the declarations 
of the German Government and of all the parties 
which support it are absolutely hostile to the re- 
constitution of an entirely independent and unified 
Poland and to a straightforward solution of the 
Alsace-Lorraine problem. The intervention of the 
higher military authorities and of the Crown 
Prince in the recent crisis which led to the fall of 
von Bethmann-Hollweg, the solemn declaration of 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 33 

the new Chancellor that Hindenburg and Luden- 
dorff approved his ambiguous statements, show 
plainly enough that militarism and imperialism are 
still all-powerful in German politics, internal and 
external. How then can the German Socialist 
Minority hope, by making peace, to break down 
these influences, to make them retreat or yield? 

Does not the Minority itself denounce the il- 
lusion which the Majority fosters concerning the 
democratising of Prussia? . . . and the introduc- 
tion of real Parliamentary control in Germany? 
Even if the greater part of the German people 
turned their thoughts henceforth towards concilia- 
tion, it is certain that they are loath to accept the 
principle that each nation has a right to dispose of 
itself. And in any case, all their aspirations would 
shatter themselves against the stronger wishes and 
forces over which they have no control. The peo- 
ple is politically impotent; it might be all-powerful 
in name, although in reality it could do nothing. 

The P.O.B. considers all agitation in favour of 
a premature peace to be dangerous. It has said so 
already in its Note of December 12, 1916. It must 
repeat this with the emphasis justified by later 
events. It has followed anxiously, and sometimes 
with irrepressible indignation, the propaganda of 
the Russian Maximalists, blinded by narrow the- 
ories and led astray by the chaos around them — one 
knows now with what melancholy results. Was 
there ever so sad a sight as this employment of the 



34 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

purest doctrines of Socialism to serve, — in the long 
run, — the purposes of the King of Prussia ? 

With grief we have seen comrades, experienced 
Socialists in France, Italy, and England, lend 
themselves to these peace manoeuvres. .We cannot 
comprehend their blindness and infatuation in 
imagining that they can deliver Europe from the 
nightmare of war by treating with the autocratic 
and military powers, and that a real and sincere 
recognition of the rights of nationalities can be ob- 
tained from them. We deny the right of neutrals 
to stir up feelings of pity and humanity at the risk 
of seeing the most sacred rights trampled under 
foot. But we also think we have the right our- 
selves to say to the pacifists of France and Italy, 
England and Russia: "Your sufferings are noth- 
ing beside ours; your populations work and fight 
for themselves, they are better nourished, better 
clad, better warmed than ours ; they still have moral 
gratifications of inestimable value. Our Belgian 
population, on the contrary, has languished for 
three years in gaol; it is often compelled to work 
for the enemy ; it is short of food, clothing, fuel ; it 
has not the comfort of a friendly Press, nor visits 
nor letters from its fighting men. Yet — question 
these people, and they will tell you they desire no 
limping peace. They object to any agitation 
which would result in breeding illusion and doubt, 
weariness or discouragement among their comrades 
at the front who are carrying out that hard but 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 35 

noble task, — the liberation of humanity from the 
burdens of the past." 

The P.O.B. is still convinced that there are only- 
two ways of succeeding: — either force of arms, or 
a radical change in the ideas and institutions of the 
Central Powers themselves, — such a change as will 
enable the democratic nations to meet them with 
confidence in their good faith and to treat with 
them on the basis of the principles contained in the 
honestly-conceived formula of the Russian Soldiers 
and Workers. This radical change of ideas in 
Germany and Austria will come, but only under 
pressure of necessity, such as made the Emperor 
Charles promise Hungary universal suffrage and 
the nationalities of Austria constitutional reform. 
It is under the pressure of circumstances that the 
King of Prussia • has again promised Prussia the 
S.U. But each of them wishes to retain his sov- 
ereign right of deciding upon war and peace. Each 
of them still refuses Parliamentary control and the 
peoples' right to dispose freely of their destiny. It 
is only through the continuation of the war that — 
from without or from within — this last barrier to 
the triumph of democracy and equity will be de- 
stroyed. 

XI 

The P.O.B., then, refuses to collaborate in any 
movement in favour of an immediate peace. 

Does this mean that the different national So- 



S6 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY'S 

cialist sections should remain passive as regards 
the conditions of future peace? 

On the contrary, the Belgian Labour Party 
thinks that the role which the different Socialist 
bodies have to fill is of the first importance, both 
from the point of view of the success of the Allies' 
cause and from that of the Internationale. From 
the point of view of our cause it is essential that the 
moral of those fighting for the right should remain 
good, and that any introduction of the leaven of 
discord into their ranks should be avoided. To this 
end it is necessary that each soldier should be im- 
movably convinced that he fights and sacrifices 
himself for a high ideal of justice; and that the Al- 
lied Governments be made to state precisely what 
are their war aims, so that the purity of their in- 
tentions may be clearly manifest, especially their 
hostility to all annexations which do not comply 
with the peoples' own desires. 

In this sense, however ridiculous the hypothesis 
may appear, the P.O.B. does not consider that 
Vandervelde — whose very frank opinion on the sub- 
ject has been expressed — should remain in a Min- 
istry which has any intention, hidden or confessed, 
of seeking extension of the country towards either 
the Rhine or Holland. The Socialist parties must 
therefore compel their Governments to take up a 
clear position on the subject, and it is of the great- 
est importance to the ideal of democracy that they 
should prove by their Parliamentary proceedings 



MEMORANDUM ON PEACE TERMS 87 

that democratic rule, even in time of war, is some- 
thing more than an empty expression. 

They are also held to this position by the actual 
principles of the Internationale, which they must 
not under any circumstances sacrifice to pretended 
national interests, that frequently only hide cap- 
italist greed or nationalist or chauvinist tendencies. 
They thus owe it to themselves and to the Interna- 
tionale to denounce and dissociate themselves from 
all outrages upon international law committed by 
any authorities whatever. In a word, the sections 
of the Internationale should everywhere earnestly 
endeavour to formulate a policy of frankness and 
sincerity. 

But under pretext of such action the P.O.B. can- 
not admit the over-simple thesis of those who intend 
to place all governments upon the same level, mak- 
ing them only the representatives of the bour- 
geoisie and capitalism, and drawing therefrom the 
conclusion that the issue of the war does not con- 
cern the working-class. The P.O.B. refuses to 
parley with people who ignore the declared prin- 
ciples of the Internationale and will not allow the 
proletariat to have the right and duty of defending 
their country, the victim of a war of aggression. 
Such theories, in the present state of Europe and 
its institutions, lead directly to the triumph of the 
most reactionary countries over those politically 
most developed. 

The P.O.B., therefore, refuses as entirely use- 



38 THE BELGIAN LABOUR PARTY 

less and impossible, any meeting with the groups 
following the leadership of Zimmerwald; just as 
elsewhere, for obvious moral reasons, they refuse to 
treat with the delegates of the Russian Maximal- 
ists. 

It is, in fact, totally inadmissible to start again 
in the midst of the Internationale the impossible 
game of reconciling the most contradictory tenden- 
cies. 

Finally, the P.O.B. does not admit that certain 
Belgian groups, formed haphazard abroad, have 
any right to speak in the name of the Socialist 
working-class of Belgium. The latter counts upon 
its immense majority in the country; it keeps in 
touch with its mutual-help societies, its co-opera- 
tives, its trade unions, its student groups, all still 
alive and active after three years of war. It is the 
real Belgian Socialist workers' party. As to those 
who are abroad, if any among them deserve to be 
consulted — supposing that it were possible to con- 
trol their position as party members — they must 
first think of those who are at the front, next of 
those who work in France or England for their 
country, then of those who languish in German or 
Dutch camps, and, finally, of those who sought ref- 
uge in Holland, who can only be a feeble minority, 
without real links with the workers, and, therefore, 
without authority. 

End of July, 1917. iKK££2H2 




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